International Perspectives in Open Government (SIG III and SIG IFP)

John Bertot, Charles McClure, Nadia Caidi and Terrence Maxwell

(Submission #5)

Summary

Since the events of September 11, 2001, governments around the world have adopted, augmented, and/or modified substantially policies, laws, and practices regarding access to and availability of government information. In the name of national and international security, anti-terrorism, and other reasons, governments have engaged in a range of initiatives that include website scrubbing, removal of materials from libraries and other government information access points, the continued classification of documents, clandestine eavesdropping, and others. These efforts, ostensibly to protect the global community, also serve to restrict the flow and availability of government information on a range of significant topics such as environmental and infrastructure information, government programs information, government resources, and others.

This panel discusses the impacts, implications, and issues associated with current practices, policies, and legislation on access to and dissemination of government information. The intent of the session is to not only identify key issues related to open government with an international perspective but to also suggest possible information policy initiatives to balance the needs for open government versus security.